World of Warcraft: Cataclysm sets first day sales record

At this point it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that an expansion pack for World of Warcraft sets a new sales record on release—they’ve been doing it for years—but that doesn’t mean Blizzard Entertainment isn’t any less proud of itself. According to the company, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has set a new record for fastest-selling PC game, moving 3.3 million copies in its first 24 hours of availability. Of course, that figure includes digital pre-sales from eager players who paid in advance to make sure they’d have a copy right at launch.

“We had to bring Azeroth to the brink of destruction in Cataclysm, but the result was our best expansion yet,” said Blizzard co-founder and CEO Mike Morhaime, in a statement. “We want to thank all of our new, existing, and returning players throughout the world for their incredible enthusiasm and support.”

The previous record for first-day sales of a PC game had been set back in 2008 by Blizzard’s Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack, which moved 2.8 million copies on its first day of availability. World of Warcraft currently boasts a global player base of over 12 million people.